The number of adults baptised by the Catholic Church in Belgium has tripled over the last decade, the Belgian Bishops' Conference announced on Wednesday.
This year, 536 catechumens (adult candidates for baptism) will receive the sacrament during the Easter Vigil on Saturday.
In comparison, there were 362 catechumens in 2024, an increase of 48% in one year, and 180 in 2015, a 198% increase over ten years.
The diocese with the highest number of candidates this year is Mechelen-Brussels, with 102 catechumens in Brussels, 47 in Walloon Brabant, and 24 in Flemish Brabant and Mechelen.
Tournai is the second most requested diocese with 136 candidates in 2025, while Bruges has the fewest new catechumens this year, with 14.
Adult baptisms traditionally take place during the Easter Vigil, the night before Easter Day. It is preceded by a preparation period of 18 months to two years, involving an initiation into faith and community life.
These figures contrast with the rise in the number of people who have requested to be removed from the Catholic Church's baptismal registers in Belgium in recent years. In 2023, the most recent year for complete figures, 14,251 people requested such a removal. In previous years, this figure usually hovered around 1,200, with a peak of over 5,000 in 2021.
Pope Francis' visit to Belgium in September 2024 also resulted in over 520 people requesting to leave the Church. The Pope had described the partial decriminalisation of abortion in Belgium as a "murderous law" and labelled abortion doctors as "hitmen."
